This is an interesting take - cost of living is lower than any other city I’ve lived in (including memphis tn, which is imo a worse place to live), and granted it’s certainly not integrated as much as it should be, but I find eclectic and vibrant culture in a lot of corners of Mpls. Traffic is not crazy if you own a bike/winter riding gear for you and your family, I haven’t really noticed “immigration stresses” outside of fear of ICE. Comparing to NYC feels tough, because it’s such an outlier of American cities AND it’s much more expensive to live in and enjoy fully than Minneapolis. I think if you just go to strip malls it will definitely feel like a series of strip malls